The New England Revolution did not need to win their 2nd leg in order to move on in the MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T, but they did anyway, putting an exclamation mark on a dominant series performance against the Columbus Crew.

The Revolution picked up where they left off in their
Eastern Conference Semifinal series on Sunday,
claiming a 3-1 victory in the second leg at Gillette Stadium to push their
aggregate score to 7-3 and advance to the Conference Championship for the first time since 2007.

The New England Revolution couldn't have drawn up a much better start, and the Columbus Crew likely never imagined it would be this bad.

The Revolution got off the ground in emphatic fashion in the Eastern Conference semifinal series of the MLS Cup Playoffs presented by AT&T on Saturday, scoring four away goals to defeat Columbus 4-2 at Crew Stadium.

Charlie Davies led the way for the Revs with a brace that included a stinging shot off the post for the team's fourth goal of the day, and
Chris Tierney and
Lee Nguyen also added their names to the scoreseet with impressive finishes of their own.

The Columbus Crew only needed a draw against the Philadelphia Union Sunday to clinch their first home playoff game since 2010. They got more than that, with
Bernardo Anor scoring a late winner to secure a 2-1 victory against Philadelphia in both club’s regular-season finale.

The win was Columbus's third in a row, taking them to 52 points (14-10-10) overall for the season, while the Union sputtered to a 42-point finish (10-12-12), notching only one win in their final seven matches.